Punishment
by Relm Wanderer
Summary: "..and as punishment you will remain as a human for one week!"


**Punishment**

By Relm

_"..and as punishment you will remain as a human for one week!" _

Xellos shuddered remembering the cold words of his master. He had been given an assignment that he failed to complete and he was punished as a result. For a creature such as himself being trapped in a mortal's body was very cumbersome.

"Give us all your money!" A bandit demanded emerging from the bushes by the trail Xellos was walking.

Yes being mortal was very cumbersome, especially a mortal without magic ablities.

"I don't have any money." Xellos insisted waving his hands in the air.

Another bandit held the blade of his sword near Xellos' neck. "Give us your money or else."

Xellos gulped. "I swear to you I don't have any money on me!"

"You're lying. You can't travel this far from town without any money. I don't appreciate being lied too." The third bandit said while all three walked closer to Xellos.

What was Xellos to do in this situation? Well not only did he not have his magic but his staff had been taken away from him. He was unarmed. So what did he do? The only thing he could think of. He ran away screaming like a little girl. "EEEEEEEKKKKKK!"

"He's getting away!"

Xellos ran screaming all the way. But thankfully the bandits chasing him though very buff and strong were very slow. So Xellos lost them relatively quickly. But that didn't stop him from still running and still screaming.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed running and slipped and fell into a lake. "Bleh!" Xellos lifted his head out of the water coughing trying to get some air into his lungs. "The bandits!" He panicked but then noted that besides his laboured breathing and the sounds of the lake there were no other sounds to be heard. "I lost them!" Xellos cheered getting out of the water.

A gust of wind breezed by giving Xellos a sudden deathly chill. "Burrrr… Better start a fire." Xellos thought as he gathered up stray sticks from the ground.

With the wood gathered Xellos sat himself down to get his fire going. Only he didn't have the foggiest idea on how to do so.

"What did Miss Lina do to start a fire?" Xellos thought out loud thinking back to the times he had following Lina and her crew. But the only memory he could stir up was involving Lina using a fire based spell to start up a fire. "I can't do that! Gah what other means are there to start a fire?"

...

Several hours later Xellos gave up and decided to just go to sleep. He couldn't get a fire going and he just wasting too much energy trying. So instead he flopped down and fell asleep.

...

Xellos' eyes fluttered opened as bright rays of light assaulted him. "Ahhhh! Too bright…" He mumbled. As he tried to sit up he noticed that he couldn't really do so. He felt dizzy, tired, his head was strangely heavy, his throat hurt a lot, his nose was plugged and dripping and he felt achy. "Huh?" He croaked out. "What? What's wrong with me? My voice is gone!" He croaked out.

...

Filia hummed to herself as she dusted her bookshelf. It was a wonderful spring day and she was in an extremely good mood. 'There's nothing that could happen that could bring me down today!' Filia thought triumphantly.

Suddenly a soft knock at her door alerted Filia's attention. It didn't sound like a normal knock, it sounded more like a light rasping of the door.

At first Filia thought she was imagining things and ignored it. But when she heard it a third time she knew she wasn't hearing things.

'Now who could that be?' Filia thought as she went to the door. The sight she found at her steps was rather pathetic.

Xellos laid there miserably reaching his hand out like a man dying of thirst reaching for water. His hair was sticking out at all places, his clothing was wrinkled and dirty, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy with bags under them, his face was all deathly pale, nose was running, he was breathing heavily through his mouth and he was coughing. "Help m-eee…. I'm… dy-ing…" Xellos croaked.

Filia rolled her eyes.

...

"Fi-li-aaaaa! I'm thirs-tyyyy…" Xellos whined from the bedroom upstairs.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Filia yelled back from the kitchen. 'Why am I supposed to take care of that raw garbage? What did I do to deserve this?'

Xellos was driving Filia nuts. He was whining constantly and being far too overdramatic. He kept claiming he was dying like he had some terminal illness when all he has a simple flu.

"Fi-li-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" He whined louder this time.

"Quit your whining I said I'll be there in a minute!" Filia yelled at him once again. 'Geesh what has he never been sick before?'


End file.
